Belmont & Edgware CC round-up

Belmont & Edware 1sts recorded a thumping 167-runs over West Middlesex in the Middlesex League Division Three.

This was a victory built on a platform provided by Daniel Abrahams (47) and Jonathan Evans (66), well-supported by the rest of the team.

Everyone chipped in, with every batsman reaching double figures, and key performances from Warren Averbuch (24*) and Ami Wynbourne (19*, including eight from one ball) at the death taking the total over the 300-run mark.

Facing a West Middlesex team who had never won a match in the Middlesex League at any of their 22 previous attempts, this was always likely to be a winning total. It proved to be such, as Gideon Restan turned in a virtuoso performance with the ball and in the field, taking 4-9 runs to go with his four catches.

Wynbourne, on his return to the club, bowled sharply and took a wicket, whilst there were three wickets for BECC skipper Ashley Connick.

The day's star performers were Evans, Restan and Abrahams, however, and it was fitting that Evans should take the final wicket and seal the victory with nearly 10 overs to spare.

BECC Seconds played out a close match with Southgate in something of a carnival atmosphere, celebrating the Richard Mitchell's 100th match in charge of Southgate.

Southgate batted first and despite good bowling early on from Mitchell Mayer, piled on the runs.

The experienced batsmen, Simon Taylor and Ashley Smokler. punished the bad balls well and put on well over a hundred.

Southgate were pegged back at the end by tight bowling from Kaplan and Horowitz, but the figures were skewed slightly as a result of a general lack of tightness in the field from BECC.

In reply, Southgate got off to an excellent start, taking the first five wickets reasonably cheaply, before Steven Altmann-Richer took the game by the scruff of the neck in conjunction with captain Ryan Monk.

The pair came together at 44-5 and started to build a strong partnership. Altmann-Richer departed for an expertly-constructed 32, whilst Monk bludgeoned his way into the 40s before holing out for 41. Kaplan and Matlin then formed a partnership in the truest sense of the word, batting with great togetherness and skill.

There were plenty of boundaries and pushed singles, as the score crept towards the required total. Unfortunately, Matlin picked the wrong fielder to sky the ball to, falling for 25, and Kaplan was unable to steer the team home as they fell 13 runs short.

An excellent game, played in a great spirit and with a really collegiate atmosphere between the two sides.

BECC 3rds suffered a 92-run defeat against Weldon.

Stand-in BECC captain Blasebalk won the toss and looking at the short boundaries and glut of young bowlers, decided to field. Based on the performance of the young team featuring six Under 17 players, it was the right decision as the strength was in the bowling.

Jack Mendel and Rafael Levin bowled probably the best opening eight overs of the season for the club. Fast and accurate with movement, they made the batsmen concentrate hard. Both came back at the end and showed style way beyond their years. Mendel returned figures of 1-18 off five and Levin 1-27 off seven) and with bigger boundaries would have had even better figures.

They were replaced by 13 year-old Oskar Hollinsworth and Meir Grunhut. Both bowled tightly and were rewarded for their efforts.

There is a great deal of potential with all the bowlers and to see them eagerly running in was a pleasure to watch. It was good to see the response from Grunhut after being hit for a six. He kept the same rhythm but just bowled a little fuller and got revenge as the stumps went flying. Hollinsworth finished with 1-12 off four and Grunhut 2-28 off seven.

Ashley Hirschberger also bowled well and covered nearly every blade of grass in the field. Paul Levy attacked the tail and with the help of a good catch from Jack Shulman in the deep took 2-21 off five.

The innings came to an end with a superb one-handed catch by Ellis Tuhrim to give Mendel a much-deserved wicket.

In reply, BECC lost their captain and Heath Hollinsworth early, but it brought Phil Peters and Hollinsworth together. Some nice strokes saw the ball hurry to the boundary before Hollinsworth was dismissed for 13.

The rest of the team played support to Peters as he single-handedly pushed the run rate way above the required five. Unfortunately, wickets kept falling at the other end - shots straight to fielders, catches held and a few missed straight balls saw the game swing in favour of Weldon.